NEW SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WEEVILS OF THE 



GENUS LIXUS 



By F. H. Chittenden 



Senior Entomologist, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of 



Agriculture ^ 



The study of several collections of the curculionid genus Lixus 

 inhabiting America north of Mexico resulted in finding several 

 species which the writer considers new to science, and also a few 

 variants, all of which will be described. 



It has not been possible for the writer to secure the loan of Blatch- 

 ley's types of lupimts, morulus^ and cavicoUis, as they are all unique, 

 but that author very kindly furnished a specimen of his leptosomus. 

 L. crassuTus Notman is also unique, and Fall's peninsularis has not 

 been seen, although specimens of his Mscho^, perlongus, and mari- 

 timus were available. 



In the studies relative to this paper the writer has enjoyed access 

 to the collection of the United States National Museum, including 

 the Casey collection containing Casey's types and other valuable 

 material; the collections of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, the National Museum of Canada, the Illinois State Natural 

 History Survey, the University of Kansas, and the Colorado State 

 Agricultural College ; and the collections of Messrs. L. L. Buchanan, 

 F. S. Carr, D. K. Duncan, Warren Knaus, and H. P. Loding. Val- 

 uable material was furnished also by C. A. Frost, M. H. Hatch, 

 E. C. Van Dyke, and J. B. Wallis. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that the secondary sexual 

 characters are vested in the rostrum: 1, that of the female being 

 longer and usually more arcuate, and that of the male being both 

 shorter and thicker ; 2, that of the female being usually more shining 

 black, and that of the male being more or less covered with pubes- 

 cence. This is noticeable in such species as fi'nibriolatus^ perforatus, 

 scrohicolUs, mucidus, laramiensis^ and pervestitus. The place of in- 



1 Doctor Chittenden died on September 15, 1929. A short biographical sketch by Dr. 

 L. O. Howard was published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, vol. 22, No. 6, 1929, 

 pp. 989-990. 



No. 2841.— Proceedings U.S. National Museum, Vol. 77, Art. 18. 



2603—30 1 1 



